Created Life
by doublequartereighthnote
Summary: An aura is connected to the soul. You can't just make a teenage soul. What if Penny started as a baby and James raised her from her birth?
James watched with his breath held. The tiny body was lifeless and limp, like a puppet. He barely understood what this man had done.

" _Why would you need a small body?"_

" _We're creating a life, Ironwood, would you give an infant an adult body?"_

The man clicked several wires and parts together inside the tiny chest. He snapped the chest compartment shut and looked up at James.

"Are you ready, Ironwood?"

James nodded, straightening his back and tensing up every muscle possible. The man took two small, electrical tools and placed them on the chest. With a jolt of 50,000 volts, the arms started moving, there was a loud cry, and the feet kicked at the air.

"Congratulations. It's alive."

"But does it have an aura?" James couldn't take his eye off of the fussing baby. It wouldn't stop crying.

The man took his scanner and held it up to the baby. It beeped with excitement and glowed a lime green. "We've got an aura." He pressed the screen twice. "And she's a girl."

"Oh…" James said. "Will she ever stop screaming?"

The man shrugged. "Babies like to be held."

"Well, then pick her up."

"No. I've got some stuff I need to record. I need to write out a birth certificate for our little miracle."

"But she's crying."

"Then hold her."

The man disappeared further into his lab. James looked between the screaming child and the dark void of the lab. James sighed and scooped up the baby as delicately as possible. He cradled her in his arms awkwardly. James had never held a baby before. He thought back to when Qrow first held Yang and Ruby. James politely declined holding both.

" _Babies aren't as breakable as you may think."_

James started to bounce as Qrow does when they cry. "Shhhh," James cooed to the child. "You're okay… You're safe…" The baby cuddled up close to his chest. She still wiggled as if she was uncomfortable but noises she made were lighter and happier.

"There we go, you're a natural," The man said, taking his rubber gloves off.

"Does she feel? She looks uncomfortable."

"She has nerve endings all over her synthetic skin."

"What about internally?"

"All her organs are rubber."

James stroked her cheek. "Will she grow?"

"Have to replace things she grows out of." The man leaned over the table. "As she grows in intelligences and abilities, we'll have to give her new limbs, maybe some hair."

James couldn't take his eyes off her. "Does she eat? Sleep?"

"She can. But probably won't."

"Well, you've certainly got your work cut out for you." James said, tickling her stomach. "She's going to cry her eyes out night and day."

The man looked at him with eyebrows raised, shaking his head. "Oh no. I'm just the craftsman. You're the one who ordered her. You get to bring her home."

"I can't- I can't take her with me. That's why I paid you to make her!"

"Exactly, you paid me to make her, not take care of her."

"I didn't know you would make a _baby!_ If I knew I wouldn't have-"

"You would have, what, James? Hire me to make a robot with an aura?" The man clicked his tongue against his teeth. "You know that just isn't true, James." He looked at the baby in James arms. "You would have asked for her regardless. Don't act like she's a burden. She's exactly want you wanted."

James squeezed her gently. "What do I do with her?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know. I've never done this before." The man reached inside his coat and pulled out a cigarette. "All I can tell you is that this is a life we've just created. She feels, she hears, she tastes. Shes _alive_ , James. Raise her. Love her. Care for her."

"Qrow, what do I do?" James had brought her back to his home. She started crying again. He tried to bounce her but she wouldn't have it. She just kept crying. James had his scroll pressed to his ear. "Please, tell me what I do."

"Jimmy, what are you talking about?"

"What did you do when Ruby or Yang wouldn't stop crying?" James asked, desperate for any type of information.

"Uh… Well… Some times they were hungry?"

"Nope...Um… Already fed."

"Okay? Burping?"

"D-Done."

"Changing?"

"Uh… Completely clean."

"Sleepy?"

"Definitely not."

"Uh, kids like shiny things."

James went looking around the room for something shiny. He had nothing in the room besides his own fingers. James scrunched the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he pulled his glove off with his teeth and started wiggling his fingers in front of her face. She immediately stopped, and started grabbing at the shiny fingers.

"Perfect."

"Jimmy, where did you get a baby?" Qrow laughed on the other end of the phone. "You didn't get someone pregnant, did you?"

James didn't answer. He didn't know how to explain his new child. He knew that he couldn't tell anyone. Even his closest friends.

"No shit, you did _not_ get someone pregnant!"

"Uh… An old girlfriend came by… She was muttering about how she couldn't do this. How she didn't want to do this… And she just… dropped her here… in my arms."

Qrow was silent for only a moment. "Shes yours?"

James bit his lip. "Yeah… She's mine."

"Oh."

"Qrow-"

"Well, Jimmy, you'll have to let me come see your little bundle of joy some time-"

"Qrow-"

"I gotta go. See you, James, and, congrats on the kid." There was a click and Qrow was gone.

"Fuck." James murmured, letting his scroll close itself and slide down onto the baby's stomach. The baby was still playing with his fingers. She sucked on them although they were not wet. She was looking up at him with great big green eyes.

"What is it, darling? What's with the eyes? What do you want?"

She just kept staring at him.

"What is it? What is it-" He stopped. He wanted to call her by name, but, she didn't have one. "Oh… You need a name…." He studied her face. "Dorothy? Do you like Dorothy? Maybe… Rouge? No… Sage? Mint?"

James groaned and sat down, adjusting her so she sits on his chest. "You smell like pennies." He chuckled and stroked her back. "Couldn't he use the titanium alloy that my right half is made of?"

Her eyes started to close, slowly but surely. Her breathing began to slow, her tiny body expanding and deflating with every breath. James watched her sleep until his own eyes grew heavy. He fell asleep with her on his chest. Breathing in sync with each other.

 **1.5 years**

"Come on Pennies, just one more." James begged, holding her new leg in his arms. They had replaced every one of her baby limbs with a child sized one. With the exception of her right leg.

"No! It hurts! I don't like it when the nerves connect!" She said, holding onto her stub. "It hurts."

James sighed and rubbed the stub. "I know darling. But you need your second leg. Otherwise you're going to walk with a wobble. And you can't play with your swords until you have your leg on."

She tapped her other leg. "Can I put yours on?"

"You want to put my leg on?"

"Yeah! I want to put yours on you!"

"Oh, well, only if I can put yours on first, okay?"

Penny stuck out her hand like she had seen James do so many times before. "Deal!" James smiles and shakes her new hand. She closed her eyes and held her hands behind her back. He lines the leg up and then snaps it into place. She let out a small whine before opening her eyes.

"Your turn!"

James sighed and layed down on the floor. He felt around his pelvic bone and pulled at his joint. His leg became limp and he felt the loss of his thousands of nerves. It ached for a moment but he was able to will away the pain as he sat up to look at her.

Penny grabbed his leg and grinned a devilish grin. "Are you ready?

"Ready as I'll ever be. Go ahead."

Penny adjusted her grip on his leg and got a running start and jammed the leg back into its socket. James let out a small scream. He too hated it when the nerves connected.

"All done! You can open your eyes now."

James hadn't realized his eyes were closed. He opened them to see Penny's face up close to his. She smiled wide and wrapped her new arms around his neck.

"Thank you for putting my leg back on, dear." James said, wrapping his arm around her and squeezing. He loved to hold her, he thought this was the best way to feel close to her, and to help her. The constant touch was to reassure her. She could feel like a normal girl.

"I really like having a half robot Papa." Penny muttered, tightening her arms around him.

"You….like my robot half?" James asked.

Penny pulled away from the hug and picked up James' hand. She played with his fingers before pulling off the glove that hid away the metal. She compared the two, one covered in pale, squishy, skin-like material. The other had no cover, the metal connected with black stretch material. His looked like a skeleton, made for a robot. Hers looked like a hand, made for a human.

"You make this seem less scary," She felt through his shirt where his flesh met his metal. "Like I can be a real girl like you're a real boy."

James took her hands in his and held them tight. "Penny, look at me," She met his gaze. "You are a real girl. You have thoughts and feelings like a real girl. You feel compassion and love… You know what's right and what's wrong... You're more real than a lot of people I know."

Penny's eyes filled with tears. She started to sniffled and wipe away the tears. James smiled, pulled out a handkerchief, and brushed the tears from her cheeks.

"I didn't know you could cry tears."

Penny giggled through her watery eyes. "Me neither."

James laughed as well and scooped her up. He stood and plopped her down on her feet.

"Come on, let's go play with your swords."

 **2.25 years**

There was a knock on his door. James groaned and sat up. "Come in." He called. The door squeaked open and Penny poked her head in. "Good evening, Penny. What do you need? Did your knee dislocate again?"

Penny shook her head, entering the room and crawling onto the bed. James sat up and opened his arms to her. She snuggled right into his chest.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" He asked.

"I don't know. I had a vision of you and I were flying in the sky! And we had wings and we were spinning and doing flips and then we stopped to have ice cream and you had strawberry and I had vanilla but I know your favorite is chocolate and _I_ really like strawberry and then we drove all the way to Atlas and it was weird and brown and soggy and-"

James couldn't help himself, he started to laugh at her absurd story.

"Papa don't laugh! I saw this, I really did!"

"Pennies, sweetheart, that was a dream. You did see those things, but they're not real. Your mind made them up." James explained. Her face filled with shock and awe.

"That was a dream?! That was so strange!" She grinned. "I can make dreams! My brain can make dreams!"

"Well you're a real girl with a real aura. Of course you can have dreams." James pat her on the head and ruffled her hair.

"Do humans have dreams all the time?"

"All the time."

"What do you dream about, Papa?"

James opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't think of anything. He never dreamed anymore. Sleep was just a break from his consciousness. And when he did dream, they were horrible relocations of war and grim. _But she's so excited about dreams,_ he thought.

"I dream about my days at the academy and battles I had there." His stomach twisted with guilt. This was the first time he's lied to her. It didn't feel good or right. But he couldn't crush her beautiful ideal of dreams.

"Oh! Are they super fun? Do you fly in the dreams too?"

"Uh, No. We don't fly. We fight, and study."

Penny pouted. "That's boring. You have boring dreams."

James chuckled. "You're right. Maybe tonight i'll have more interesting dreams because you're here with me." He squeezed her close. "Come under the covers with me. I have work in the morning."

Penny hurried under the covers as James laid down. She rested her head on his chest and he stroked her hair as he dozed off.

 **5 years**

"Papa…" Penny said, coming into his office. She'd been upgraded again, now in a teenaged body to reflect her now teenaged mind. She had coffee and apple slices, his favorite midnight snack.

James looked up from his paperwork. "What is it Penny? I'm busy."

"Well… You haven't eaten since 6 p.m.. That's nine hours without food… I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She approached the desk and placed the apples and coffee in front of him.

"Oh… Thank you, Penny. But you didn't need bring me this."

Penny shrugged. "I was worried about you...and missed you."

James smiled. "I miss you too, Pennies."

She sat down on the couch. "You work too much." She laid her head down on the arm.

"I know I do…" James said, tapping his pen on the desk. "But… I have plans to make and an army to run."

"You've always had an army to run."

"I'm sorry, Penny," James sighed. "I don't really have much of an excuse…"

"It's okay. I get it…" She stretched out on the couch, making herself comfortable. "Can I just stay up with you?"

"Mmmm, I don't know. I think you need to get some sleep." James grinned when Penny looked confused.

"But I don't sleep every night, Papa."

"I know, Pennies. You can stay here with me tonight."

 **8.5 years**

Penny squealed and bounced in place as she looked out the window of the airship. They were flying over Vale. It was the first time she had been anywhere but Atlas. The landscape was vastly different. There were mountains and trees and islands. Atlas was nothing but cold and flat.

"I'm so excited to meet new people and experience new things and enter the fighting competition and we're going to have _so_ much fun together!"

James placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know you're excited. And I'll do as much as possible."

She turned to face him, jerking her shoulder away. "You're not… Going to come with me?"

"Penny… I have a lot to go over with Ozpin. I'll trying my hardest-"

"I thought we were going to spend time together!"

"We are! I have have to spend some time with Ozpin and Glynda. I'll finish my business up then we'll spend loads of time together, deal?"

Penny weighed her options, knowing either way he was going to anyway.

"Deal." She stuck out her hand.

James smiled, remembering all their little deals, and shaking on it. As they shook, the ship landed in Vale. "I will see you soon, Pennies. Be good for the guards."

 **After the Battle of Vale**

James entered the arena, soaking in the aftermath of her last battle. There was a white hot scratching at his chest, begging him to turn around and not face her. His body started to rattle, his bones felt weak, he couldn't feel anything but pure dread.

She was almost untouched, still in the place she fell apart. James kneeled next to her. She was limp and lifeless again. Her limbs were stiff, almost like a toy. They were cold in James' hands although Penny has never felt cold. She always had this pulsing warmness that made her feel so authentic. He could always feel her life.

"Pennies?" He whispered. James pushed her body parts together so she resembled her old self. Her arms were crossed over her chest. James closed her eyes that saw no more. He rummaged through whatever pockets he had left and pulled out a hand held laser he used for his own repairs. With precision, he stiched her limbs back together with crude lines of melted steel. She was whole again. James was able to scoop her up and pull her close. He cradled her in his arms like it was the first he ever held her. But now, she was not warm, she was not loud. She did not look up at him with the soft green eyes. she did not cuddle closer to him.

All he could do was hold her, crying, grasping, and asking himself how he could let this happen to his daughter. He promised to protect and care for her.

"Oh, my real girl…" He stroked her cheek as if he was wiping away her tears. "I didn't think I'd have to put you back together again so soon…"

James placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "Your first battle was great… You were really good. You did everything you could. And your swords! You've gotten so good at controlling them!" James smiled although he could see through his watering eyes. "Remember when you got the first one? And you nearly took my hand off? Do you remember when you had your first cupcake? You were off the walls… Remember? Pennies?"

James stared at her for a moment, trying to remember her smiling. "Fuck… Penny… I'm so sorry…" She didn't respond. He didn't expect her to, he just wanted her to. "What I wouldn't give to hear you cry one last time."


End file.
